The meeting was scheduled to receive a series of updates, including a progress report on Hyndburn Borough Council's audit plan, a progress report on the external audit of the council's accounts, and the final accounts for 2021/22 and 2022/23.

The most significant item on the agenda was the submission of the final accounts for 2021/22 and 2022/23. The accounts were scheduled to be presented by the Head of Finance, Miss Jody Spencer-Anforth.

Approval of the Statement of Accounts for 2021/22 and 2022/23

The report pack says the meeting was scheduled to approve the accounts for both financial years. It says:

This report seeks the Committee’s approval for the Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2021th2 and 2022/23 so that they can be published by the statutory backstop deadline of 13 December 2024.

Recommended – 1) Approve the Statement of Accounts for 2021/22 as presented at Appendix 1 and, in doing so, agree that the Chairman of the Committee sign the Statement of Accounts as appropriate

This was to allow the council to comply with the Accounts and Audit (Amendment) Regulations 2024, which require local authorities to publish their audited accounts for 2021/22 by 13 December 2024.

The report pack also says the meeting was scheduled to consider letters of representation from the council to its external auditors, Forvis Mazars.

External Audit Update

The meeting was scheduled to be provided with an update on the progress of the external audit by the council’s external auditors, Forvis Mazars. The report pack says:

These accounts have yet to be audited

It also says:

This report also updates the committee on the Council’s status with the 2023/24 accounts and external audit

Audit Plan Progress Report

The meeting was scheduled to be provided with an update on the progress of the council's audit plan.

Christmas Lights Audit

A key issue identified in the audit of the Christmas lights was that there were no issues arising.

Homelessness Audit

A number of issues were identified in the audit of the council's homelessness service. The report pack notes that:

The audit found that the Call Off contract between the Council and this organisation was still at a draft stage which it had been at the time of the previous audit engagement of this area in 2022. This contract has expired and Management are dealing with this issue currently with a report to Cabinet in December 2024.

Business Continuity Audit

A key issue identified in the audit of business continuity planning was that the planning & transportation service had not updated its business continuity plans since 2020.

External Audit

The meeting was scheduled to receive the external auditors' annual report, which summarises the work undertaken by the auditors for the year ended 31 March 2022. It was also scheduled to receive the audit completion report for the year ended 31 March 2022, which summarises the external audit conclusions.

The report pack notes that:

Draft accounts were prepared several months after the statutory deadline. Working papers were provided alongside the draft financial statements, however these often lacked sufficient information and detail to allow the audit to progress smoothly and required additional queries in order to understand how the information had been compiled and supported disclosures in the financial statements. These issues contributed to delays in finalising the audit process for 2021/22 and contributed to the significant weakness in value for money arrangements identified in section 3 of this report.

Risk Management Monitoring Report

The meeting was scheduled to be provided with an update on the council's risk management activities. The report pack says a report is:

to follow